May 15, 2011

James Ray and the "Bruenett Asian"

Crossposted from Reflections Journal.


Truc Do


Well, I've been waiting for this particular penny to drop for a while. I've thought since fairly early in the trial that there was some weird metacommunication between James Ray and Truc Do. What exactly is going on there is something I've discussed privately and speculated about. But James Ray's recent and quickly deleted tweet is the first tangible demonstration that something might be up between Ray and Do.

The tweet was noted by Jean D on the Salty Droid:

Cannot believe this. This tweet was just sent from JamesARayJames Arthur Ray’s phone. Seriously?

“I am friggin in love w/the bruenett asian.”

By the time I saw her post a few hours later, the tweet in question had been deleted, but Jean's not the only one who saw it. One of the people who noted and retweeted it is ABC reporter Dan Harris, who has been following the James Ray sweat lodge story for a while. He's done some of the better reportage on this fiasco. He caught Ray's very risky tweet as did someone named Kimberly Ratliff.




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So that's three people who witnessed Ray's bizarre Twitter activity.

Let's lay aside for the moment the misspelling of the word brunette and the rarity of Asians who are not at least natural brunettes, and cut to the heart of the matter. Whatever it is that's had my spidey senses tingling, my concern is for Truc Do. My hunch way back in March was that he was playing her -- maybe added insurance that she'd "play full on" in the courtroom. James Ray is a dangerous manipulator and Do is particularly vulnerable right now, being a prideful woman who just had her ass handed to her by a State witness. I mean, dear god, she didn't even show up in court on Thursday. It's exactly the time that a charmer like Ray would try to console her with a risky expression of affection. Exploiting vulnerabilities and fostering dependencies is his bread and butter.

It's certainly possible that he was tweeting about some other dark-haired Asian woman but my money's on Do. And if there is something going on, she's flirting with an ethical violation. How many ways can a rising legal star self-destruct in the course of defending James Ray?


8 comments:

  1. Can't help but wonder if that tweet is going to have consequences for Ray. The defense team doesn't seem to be on a high at the moment, and that won't help. I wonder if they are just going drop their bundle a bit. No one can accuse them of not trying, and there must be a limit to how ridiculous they are prepared to look.

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  2. Hey spitualiyisnoexcuse: I wonder, too, about the possible consequences re: the Tweet.

    As far as the defense reaching a ridiculous limit, I'm not @ all sure they have a limit.

    Assuming the jury members are available for comment at the end of the trial, it's gonna be so interesting (and I'm sure entertaining) to hear their reaction(s) to all this.

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  3. @spiritualityisnoexcuse @pat Defense attorneys as a group aren't exactly known for their dignity. Still this has to be a career nadir for this bunch. All you need to know about just how much they want to dispose of this case is the lengths they've already gone to for a mistrial. Don't forget, they started talking mistrial before the Haddow email came to light, when they started whining about prosecutorial misconduct. That was right after Judge Darrow said he was going to allow in more prior sweat lodge testimony. Li threw a temper tantrum. Too much of their strategy was tied up in keeping prior sweat lodges out. It gets harder to say it was a toxidrome when the toxin was that selective over a period of years. I also suspect Ray is running out of money and no one knows better how good he is about paying his debts. They want this case over yesterday.

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  4. Truc Do must have crammed an awful lot of tricky medical stuff for her cross of Dr Dickson. I doubt she will be willing to do that amount of work and risk her neck again for someone who is so obviously much more guilty that the court is even capable of finding him.

    That tweet can't have made her feel any more prepared to do hard labor in his service.

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  5. @spiritualityisnoexcuse She didn't cram enough though, now did she? Sad to say, she did cram enough to break down the resolve of doctors who weren't very familiar with organophosphate poisoning. Well, just enough to twist their words into something that approximates an endorsement of her theory. Saying they "could not rule out" a thing is along the lines of saying "it's an inert ingredient" in something toxic. In truth, it's meaningless, but to the untrained ear and said with enough conviction, who knows.

    As to the rest, I don't know. Love makes fools of us all. It's the sheer recklessness of it that makes it such a romantic gesture. It's like shouting that you're in love with your illicit lover from a hotel balcony. Don't underestimate Ray's ability to charm. It's one of his greater skills. As is sussing out weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Don't forget that Ray's primary targets have always been affluent, educated, powerful people. Where's the fun, or the gain, in breaking down emotional cripples and ne'er do wells. He'll collect them and suck the life out of them but the prize is the powerful woman with an Achilles heel.

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  6. I guess I'm almost certainly underestimating JAR's ability to charm. All I can think of is false teeth, herpes medication, red ears and that guilty gulp he does like the naughty boy sitting front of the head master's office.

    Excluding romantic affiliations, he certainly hooked in some really great and wonderful people as students.

    (PS I used to be able to post here as Yakaru, now I can only get it to accept my website as an ID, in case anyone is wondering. I always have trouble with "Blogger".)

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  7. @spirituality..., He's not my cup of tea. That's for sure. But some women clearly think he's a major hottie. Lori Lovens was a smitten kitten for a while there. Or think about that poor woman in the throes of heat stroke screaming his name in a, ahem, sexually suggestive manner. There are a lot of women for whom he's about ideal.

    And, yes, he clearly drew quality people to him. If you're a running cult, that's what you want. People who make you look good. Think of how Scientology cultivates its celebrity showpieces. I guarantee you that if Ray had gone on, without this tragic turn of events, he would have, over time, started to shed the more together people in a series of cult purges and been left with a core group of the deeply dependent and damaged. I've seen it.

    Sorry about the Blogger hiccup. They had a major crash last week and I think things are still a little woggy. Difficulty signing in is something that's always been a problem on and off, too.

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  8. Don't forget about Li...he's not "bruenett" either, but he and Ray seem to love bodybuilding and adrenaline rushes. :)

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